User blog:Magi Hussie/Intelligence
Summary Intelligence is a word that is incredibly difficult to define, as it has been used to refer to many things, such as one's ability to process information, or their capacity for logic, self-awareness, creativity, reasoning, and/or problem solving, or their knowledge and memory. In its fullest definition, intelligence can be said to encompass all these things, which makes it incredibly difficult to quantify in versus debating terms, as many individuals may have a plentiful ability in one area, such as knowledge, and also be lacking entirely in another, such as planning, emotional intelligence, or creativity. As opposed to attempting to reliably quantify intelligence, pages should reflect that intelligence has many facets and, when describing the intelligence of characters, specifically detail their areas of strength while acknowledging any intellectual shortcomings they may have. Characters can be listed as having average knowledge overall while being geniuses in certain topics - Goku, for example, despite having little knowledge or skill in most other areas, is a martial artist of prodigal skill. This being said, the higher you go on this recommended scale, the less possible this becomes, as categories become broader and broader, with Supergenius itself implying overall brilliance surpassing that of human plausibility. Intelligence Quotients A intelligence quotient, or IQ is a scientific attempt to score the intelligence of individuals in real life through testing. It is a common occurrence in fiction for authors to give their characters IQ scores, often exceptionally high ones, and while some scientists believe IQ has validity in real life, it makes for a very poor measuring stick in fiction. An author can give a character as ridiculously high of an IQ as they want, whether it be over 200, 314, 5x10^3, or even 10^30, but without feats, these numbers are meaningless, only acting as confirmation that they are much smarter than normal humans and at best be considered to have enhanced human intellect. Even if that was not the case, as different fictions give their characters different ratings, they are completely useless for comparing intelligence between them. It would be like trying to compare the power levels in Nanatsu no Taizai to those in Dragon Ball to determine their power in relation to each other when both verses use power levels differently and have completely different scales of power. This is without getting into the fact that many scientists find IQ to be a poor judge of intelligence for the same reasons that intelligence is so hard to quantify in versus debating, among others. Some verses, such as DC Comics, have their own internal intelligence ranking systems. It is the same situation with these as it is with IQ - without feats, these rankings mean little. Levels of Intelligence Omninescience: *'Inherent omniscience (Type 1):' the ability to ignore anything that one chooses to ignore and can be ignored. **'Examples:' *'True omniscience (Type 2):' actually knowing nothing and ignoring everything that can be ignored. **'Examples:' Mindless: Certain beings/characters that are literally mindless and have no capacity for intelligence at all. *'Examples:' Animalistic: Certain beings, such as animals, that only possess basic reasoning, awareness, and problem-solving skills. While various animals, such as chimpanzees, may possess higher capacities for such things, their intelligence would still remain animalistic. *'Examples:' Mental Retardation (MR): Characters/individuals of significantly impaired intellectual and adaptive functioning. They possess unusually low intellect shown to be far below to even below average individuals. Also, such characters possess the minimum IQ of below 70 within this category. *'Examples:' Below Average: Characters/individuals of below average intellects and unremarkable skills. Also, such characters possess the minimum IQ of 71 and up to 85 within this category. *'Examples:' Average: Characters/individuals of average intelligence. While they have more developed intelligence in certain subjects, in many cases, their overall intelligence remains average. Also, such characters possess the minimum IQ of 86 and up to 114 within this category. *'Examples:' Above Average: Characters that show greater cognitive ability than the norm, but do not particularly stand out in any intellectual or academic fields. Also, such characters possess the minimum IQ of 115 and up to 124 within this category. *'Examples:' Genius (Peak Human): Characters/individuals with an exceptional capacity for knowledge and intelligence, they demonstrate high reasoning ability, can master concepts with few repetitions, and display high-performance capability generally in one area of intellectual, creative, or specific academic fields of varying depth, often possessed by fictional scientists and strategists. This level of intelligence is the level of actual geniuses and famous intellectuals in the real world and, in lieu of better feats, should be the default intelligence category for fictional characters treated as if they have exceptional or superhuman intelligence. Also, such characters possess the minimum IQ of 125 and up to 300 within this category. *'Examples:' Enhanced Human: Characters/individuals whose knowledge spreads over many fields of science and who vastly surpass the intellects of the smartest humans on Earth. At this level, many are capable of creating futuristic technology, executing complex strategies even under high pressure, and potentially even accurately predicting the future through sheer mental calculations, or outperforming supercomputers. This is where super scientists of exceptional scientific knowledge begin to appear. Also, such characters possess the IQ of any finite number greater than 300 within this category. *'Examples:' Super-Genius (Superhuman): The second highest level of non-omniscient intellect, possessed by those individuals with unfathomably superhuman intelligence and extensive mastery of several branches of science. Characters of such a scale tend to be super scientists capable of creating impossibly advanced physics-defying and reality-warping fantasy technology even with just household items and outsmarting even other extremely intelligent individuals. Supergeniuses can often easily process calculations beyond modern humanity's combined capabilities on their own, and quickly come up with extremely complex plans. *'Examples:' Infinite: The highest level of non-omniscient intellect, possessed by those individuals with unfathomably superhuman intelligence and extensive mastery of all branches of science. Character's intellectual faculties (mental capacity and concentration, mental calculation and computation, cognition and competence, wit and ingenuity, memory capacity, mental perception, mental focus, thought processing, learning capacity, deductive reasoning, visualization, analyzation, composure, instinct, awareness, knowledge, creativity, intuition, mentality, etc.) such a scale surpass virtually all other sentient beings in their universe. This power differs and to not be confused with Omniscience as the individuals possess a limitless IQ & intellectual capacity but still has to learn rather than have an innate knowledge of everything. *'Examples:' Nigh-Omniscient: Characters who have knowledge of nearly everything, with only minuscule gaps existing in their knowledge. Note: You don't need to mention "(type "insert any number here")" if it refers to having knowledge of nearly everything in general. *'Examples:' *'Necroscient (Type 1):' Characters who have knowledge of everything about the dead/death/dying. **'Examples:' *'Omnilegence (Type 2):' Characters who have the encyclopedic knowledge of all recorded material in existence (even ideas for plays, novels or manuscripts, etc.). **'Examples:' *'Oneiromniscient (Type 3):' Characters who have knowledge of everything about what everyone dreams about or has dreamed about. **'Examples:' *'Power Omniscient (Type 4):' Characters who have knowledge of everything about everything about any/every power that exists, will exist or has ever existed. **'Examples:' Omniscient: Characters who have the knowledge of everything. Be aware that even if they may know everything in their own setting that this does not grant them knowledge of beings from outside of it. *'Examples:' (Credits to VSBW for most of the information provided here) Category:Blog posts